Gusto vs Workday
We put Gusto and Workday head to head across pricing, features, ratings and the type of team each one fits best.
Quick Answer
Gusto scores 4.6 / 5 and Workday scores 4.3 / 5 in our editorial rating. Gusto starts at $49/month + $6/person and Workday starts at Quote-based (enterprise, typically $100+/employee/year). See the feature comparison below for the full breakdown.
Winner
Gusto leads with an overall rating of 4.6 / 5.
Pricing Comparison
| Gusto | Workday | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $49/month + $6/person | Quote-based (enterprise, typically $100+/employee/year) |
| Free Trial | Yes | No |
| Free Plan | No | No |
| Pricing Model | Base fee plus per-employee monthly subscription | Annual enterprise subscription (quote-based, per employee) |
Gusto starts at $49/month + $6/person and Workday starts at Quote-based (enterprise, typically $100+/employee/year). Free trial: Gusto offers a trial; Workday does not offer a trial.
Feature Comparison
| Dimension | Gusto | Workday |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating | 4.6 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Starting Price | $49/month + $6/person | Quote-based (enterprise, typically $100+/employee/year) |
| Free Trial | Yes | No |
| Free Plan | No | No |
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS | Cloud / SaaS |
| Best For | US small businesses, Companies wanting payroll plus benefits, First-time employers, Teams without an in-house accountant | Enterprises with 1,000+ employees, Multinationals needing multi-country compliance, Organizations unifying HR and finance, Companies with complex compensation and planning |
| Key Feature | Full-service payroll with automatic federal, state and local tax filing | Core HR with global compliance and audit trails |
| Integrations | QuickBooks / Xero / BambooHR / Slack / Trello / Zoom | Salesforce / Microsoft Azure / Okta / SAP / Slack / Tableau |
| Features Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.9 / 5 |
| Ease of Use Rating | 4.9 / 5 | 3.4 / 5 |
| Pricing Rating | 4.3 / 5 | 2.9 / 5 |
| Integrations Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.6 / 5 |
| Support Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Value for Money Rating | 4.6 / 5 | 3.5 / 5 |
Where Each One Wins
Gusto Advantages
- Full-service payroll with automatic tax filing in all 50 states
- Integrated benefits brokerage with employee self-enrollment
- The friendliest payroll interface for non-accountants
- Strong accountant and bookkeeper partner program
Workday Advantages
- Unmatched depth across HR, talent, payroll and finance
- Strong multi-country compliance and audit controls
- Powerful workforce planning and scenario modeling
- Continuous updates with no disruptive version upgrades
How to Choose
Choose Gusto If…
- US small businesses
- Companies wanting payroll plus benefits
- First-time employers
- Teams without an in-house accountant
Choose Workday If…
- Enterprises with 1,000+ employees
- Multinationals needing multi-country compliance
- Organizations unifying HR and finance
- Companies with complex compensation and planning
Best For
Gusto
US small businesses, Companies wanting payroll plus benefits, First-time employers, Teams without an in-house accountant
Workday
Enterprises with 1,000+ employees, Multinationals needing multi-country compliance, Organizations unifying HR and finance, Companies with complex compensation and planning
Value for Money
Gusto scores 4.6 / 5 for value and Workday scores 3.5 / 5. See our full reviews of both tools for the complete value breakdown.
Final Verdict
Our verdict on Gusto: Gusto is the default payroll and HR platform for US small businesses, and for good reason. It removes the two things that terrify first-time employers: tax filings and benefits administration. The interface is genuinely pleasant, the automatic tax filing works across all 50 states, and the QuickBooks and Xero integrations keep the books clean. The limitations are clear. It is US-only, so international teams will outgrow it, and the per-person costs stack up once you add benefits, time tracking and higher tiers. Its HR features are also lighter than a dedicated HRIS like BambooHR. But if your priority is running payroll correctly with minimal fuss and giving employees real benefits, Gusto is very hard to beat. Our verdict on Workday: Workday is the right answer for a very specific buyer: a large, complex, often multinational organization that needs HR and finance on one data model and can fund a multi-month implementation. Its depth in workforce planning, compensation cycles, compliance and reporting is genuinely unmatched, and the platform scales to organizations where simpler tools break down completely. For everyone else, it is the wrong tool. Pricing is opaque and high, deployment is measured in quarters rather than weeks, and the administrative complexity demands dedicated staff or consultants. Small and mid-sized companies should look at BambooHR, Gusto or Rippling instead. But if you are running HR for thousands of employees across many countries, Workday is the benchmark enterprise suite.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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